Year of the Spark: August 29
by Sparky Army
Summary: She just needed to get away from him. The year of the Spark continues.


_We, the Sparky Army, decree 2008 to be the Year of the Spark. We pledge to post a new sparky story or chapter of a sparky story every day from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. Though the Powers that Be have removed Elizabeth Weir from the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis, we feel that she remains an integral part of the show, and that the relationship between her and John Sheppard is too obvious to be ignored. We hope that you, and anyone might happen to read these works, agree._

_And if that isn't official enough for you, we don't know what is. Seriously, guys, we're just trying to have some fun--and show TPTB that Sparky is the way to go. So sit back and enjoy the 366 stories coming your way!_

Authors Note (Hannah554): I decided some angst was in order and since we see lots of jealous John I thought some jealous Elizabeth was necessary too though she deals with it very differently to John. I hope you enjoy it.

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**Jealousy and Buried Truths**

_By Hannah554_

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She'd always firmly believed that the 'Captain Kirk' reputation was exaggerated, if not completely untrue. She'd always believed him when he'd come to her complaining about the injustice of it and how it wasn't as bad as it sounded. It was for that reason that she now found herself in a state of complete shock after finding John in a lip lock with one of the locals. The attractive, busty blonde daughter of the village leader. Sarina, that was her name, she was the exact opposite of Elizabeth, open, flirtatious and had a figure that super models on earth would probably kill for.

She'd walked in on them, interrupting the moment and then quickly excused herself, getting out of the room with as much of her dignity intact as possible. She hadn't even given John a chance to say anything; she'd just walked out, almost breaking into a run once she was out of sight. The large village garden had provided the perfect hide out; she was hiding here amongst the alien flowers trying to put some semblance of order to her thoughts.

This was all wrong, she knew she shouldn't feel anything, especially not this jealous disappointment that had more to do with her not completely buried feelings for her military commander than anything else. She'd told herself from the beginning that the two of them were friends, they would never be more than that, couldn't be more even if the feeling was mutual.

She heard footsteps behind her and closed her eyes, a mixture of dread and resignation flowing through her. She didn't need to turn around to know who was there, didn't need to look to know who sat down on the bench next to her.

"It's taken me two hours to track you down," John stated quietly, an edge of... something in his voice, she couldn't tell what.

"What do you want John?" she questioned, she didn't want to hear his excuses, didn't want to listen to him telling her it wasn't as bad as it looked. All she wanted to do at that moment was go back to Atlantis, leave this planet, this village, Sarina and maybe even John behind.

"At the risk of sounding cliché, that wasn't what it looked like," John said, his voice sounded desperate, almost pleading with her to believe him, to listen and give him the benefit of the doubt.

"You were making out with the village leader's daughter in the corridor, I don't think there's much room for interpretation there," Elizabeth replied, bitterness in her tone that she hadn't meant to be there.

"Again with the cliché but she kissed me, you walked in before I could even register she'd moved," John tried to explain. Elizabeth's lips twisted into a sarcastic smirk, the poor excuse was pathetic and over used in the movies, she'd never expected to actually have someone say it to her.

"Your love life is none of my business, who you choose to spend your time with is of no concern to me," Elizabeth lied; she just wanted him to go away.

"That's crap Elizabeth and we both know it," John stated angrily and she felt her own anger rise up to match it, he had no right to be angry with her.

"What's your problem John?" she questioned raising her voice as she stood up. She closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath to make herself calm down, losing her temper wasn't going to do any good. "Forget about it John."

Elizabeth sighed, shrugging off the issue as though it wasn't important and turned to walk away, telling John she'd see him later in a voice that sounded weak even to her own ears. This whole mission had just been a bad experience, they'd come here to negotiate a trade deal only to learn very quickly that these people were stubborn and pig headed, they'd managed to get a deal but it wasn't anywhere near as good as she'd been hoping for. She'd spent the last two days in a room full of stuck up old men, talking in circles and wishing to be elsewhere.

She felt a hand grab her arm, turning her around until she came eye to eye with John, a look of determination on his face. She hadn't even heard him follow her, too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice anything else. She tried to pull her arm free, her emotions were too close to the surface, too exposed and being near him was only making it worse. He held on, refusing to let go of her and she felt herself getting desperate, she needed to get away from him.

"John let go," she demanded.

"Not until we've talked," he replied, keeping hold of her when she pulled at her arm again. "She kissed me, I didn't ask for it and I didn't want it."

She couldn't listen to this, she was barely holding onto her control now and she wasn't going to lose it, not in front of him. She pulled at her arm again but his grip tightened and her hand started shaking and she needed to get away from him right now.

"John please," she almost begged, her voice thick with emotions and something in John's expression changed. A look of pain joining the determination and he let go of her arm, remaining where he was as he watched her take a step back from him. She looked at him for barely a second before she turned around, desperate now to get away from him and regain control of herself before the trip back through the gate in a few hours.

"There was never gonna be another woman, no one but you," John stated and she stopped, closing her eyes yet again and willing for some control over her chaotic emotions, anything to get her through the next ten minutes. She wanted to keep walking, to go to the gate and wait until it was time to leave, to do anything but turn around and look at him. Unfortunately her body had a will all its own and it betrayed her, turning to him. His face was desperate, more open than she could ever remember seeing it and there was terror there, terror that he'd gone too far, said too much.

She couldn't seem to respond, couldn't move, couldn't speak. For all her years as a diplomat, all those times she'd spoken when it should have been impossible to say the right thing, she had no words right now. They just stood there staring at each other, trying to judge the other, figure the other out on a whole new level and what she learned scared her. The depth of what he felt for her, she could almost feel it herself, coming off him in waves at that moment but the image of him and Sarina entered her mind along with all the tales Rodney liked to tell about John's 'Kirking'.

"How much of it was true John?" she questioned finally finding her voice. "All those stories Rodney tells, all the times you sat in my office telling me it wasn't like that, who was telling the truth?"

"Me," he replied adamantly. "Rodney exaggerates, you know that. Every one of those girls that threw themselves at me, they never stood a chance cos all I could think of was you."

John stepped toward her, slowly as though he was afraid she'd turn around and run if he made any sudden movements, to be honest she wasn't sure that she wouldn't. He closed the distance between them, stopping only inches away from her and with a huge effort she stayed where she was. Despite all the reasons this was a bad idea that were running through her head, she wanted to see this through, needed to see where this lead. He reached his hand up, moving as slowly as he had walked hesitation in his movements that she wasn't used to seeing from him. His fingers touched her cheek, barely brushing against the skin before he moved a strand of hair behind her ear.

She was aware of her heart beating fast and hard in her chest, her breathing picking up the pace to try and keep up with it. Her hands were still shaking down by her sides and she could feel the slight tremble in John's, it gave her a strange sense of comfort that he was as scared of this as she was.

He leaned toward her, his lips brushing against hers before he kissed her, there was uncertainty in the movement, hesitation and Elizabeth brought a shaky hand up to his chest, caught between the terrified need to push him back and the desire to pull him closer. The latter won out, her hand gripping the fabric of his jacket as she returned the kiss. His uncertainty disappeared then and his hand moved to the back of her head, his other going around her waist to pull her as close as he could physically get her.

She didn't know how long it was before the sound of the rest of the team interrupted them, Rodney, Teyla's and Ronon's voices calling out there names as they searched for their leaders. Elizabeth broke the kiss reluctantly, meeting his eyes and wishing they could just ignore the rest of the world until it was time to head back to Atlantis.

"We'll... talk later," John finally said and she nodded her head.

"When we get back to Atlantis," she replied and he kissed her again, a short kiss that promised so much more and he stepped away from her in time for the other's to find them.

"There you are, we've been looking for you two everywhere, Leader Andar wants to see us," Rodney told them sounding annoyed at having to spend so much time searching for them. The team left the garden, returning to the village hall where the three village leaders were waiting for them along with Sarina. The young blonde looked at John, smiling at him and then looking dejected when John didn't return the gesture, instead he stepped closer to Elizabeth putting a subtle hand on the small of her back.

"We have changed our minds," Andar stated "We wish to renegotiate the terms of our deal."

Elizabeth swallowed back her irritation, that was two days work out of the window. "May I ask what part of the deal is unsatisfactory?"

"We believe the food and the use of our plant life for your... research is worth more than what you have offered in return," Andar explained and Elizabeth was tempted to tell them to shove the deal, these people were already getting more that she had originally been prepared to offer simply because the botany department had been going crazy at the idea of getting hold of the plants from this planet, not to mention Carson and several other doctors had been very excited about the medicinal properties they seen in the samples SGA-2 had brought back.

From the corner of her eye Elizabeth caught sight of Sarina smirking smugly and it hit Elizabeth. John had obviously turned her down and this was her way of getting revenge for that, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. A few words to daddy and Elizabeth's life had been made just that little bit more difficult.

"We have already offered you much more than we were originally prepared to, if you're not prepared to stick to the deal we have already made then there will be no deal at all," Elizabeth stated, these people wanted this deal almost as much as the Atlantians. The antibiotics they would get in return would be a great help to the villagers here, she didn't think they'd lose out because of one girl's vendetta, leader's daughter or not. It wouldn't be detrimental to Atlantis if this deal didn't work out; she was prepared to take the risk that it would fall through.

The village leaders looked at each other whispering amongst themselves, Andar glancing apologetically at his daughter confirming Elizabeth's suspicions that the sudden change of heart had been her doing.

"We will honour the original agreement," Andar stated and Sarina glared at her father, Elizabeth and John before she stormed out of the room. Elizabeth inwardly admitted that she had enjoyed angering the young woman, watching her storm away like a five year old who'd been told they couldn't get an ice cream.

"We'll be leaving now," Elizabeth told the leaders who nodded and left.

"I thought we were going to be here for another few hours," Rodney stated.

"We were," she replied and turned to John "Let's get out of here before they change their minds again or Sarina comes up with a new plan."

John nodded looking as eager as she was to get off that planet and Elizabeth decided if any further negotiating needed to be done with these people at any point in the future she was sending one of the SG teams to do it on her behalf. If she never saw this planet again she'd be happy.


End file.
